Mother's Day

Today was a very nice Mother's Day and I was very glad that I got to spend it with my family.  It started with a lovely afternoon at the Round Barn Theater.  Cam and Meg went with me to see "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."  There were only four members in the cast, and the two male leads were two of our favorites.  The first half was fantastic with a lot of humor.  We were all glad that we could go.  Brett called us on the way there to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  It was great to hear from him and we are looking forward to seeing him on the 25th.  

Doug made dinner for everyone tonight.  My parents and HM were able to join Cal, Meg, Doug, Cam and I.  The dinner was delicious and the weather was gorgeous.  We ate out on the patio and everyone was able to enjoy a game of croquet afterward.  I loved the gifts I got this year from Doug and the Heinisch children - red, white and blue jewelry, purple plates, and a solar butterfly for our front yard. My Mom and Dad gave me a red wagon planter that also looks awesome on the front porch.  It was a wonderful Mother's Day.  

Tennis Champions

Cameron was asked by his Bethany tennis coach to play in this weekend's tournament at Angola.  It was an honor to be invited as normally only 8th graders play since Bethany can only bring 14 players.  Doug and he were up bright and early this morning ready for their day of tennis.  The weather ended up being beautiful and Cam had a fantastic time.

Each doubles team was slated to play three matches at 20 minutes each.  As Cam was the only 6th boy invited he was seeded as number 4 doubles.  His first match was the easiest of the day with Cam and his partner winning 6-1 in their allotted time.  The boys also had fun spending time hanging out with the team while waiting for their next two matches.  Doug used the down time to catch up on work.  At the end of their third round they found themselves seeded first in their bracket.  Four other Bethany teams also made the finals, so the boys had company while waiting for the championship round.  Cam kept himself occupied this time by finding a toad to chase around.

The team that the boys played were better than the previous three and they found themselves down after the first game.  They rallied, however, and when the whistle blew they were called to the top of the podium winning 4 games to 1.  Cam had a fantastic showing for his first tennis tournament and a medal to commemorate his winnings.  

Taking It Slow

Meg was home with a migraine today.  I let her sleep in and we decided that it was best for just to stay home.  It had been a long couple of nights for her at NLC and I believe that the tennis wore her out.  It was a good day for her just to rest.

I spent a lot of time resting as well today.  I did have an appointment with Dr. Mulry to follow up with my visit to the ER last Friday.  He had some ideas of medications we could try, but ultimately it's going to take some time.  I have found all of this frustrating, but I do realize that I am seeing progress.  I use my inhaler less and I have not had a fever since last Saturday.  I will get there, just not today.

Since Meg and I wanted to rest and Doug had a lot of work to do tonight, we rented the movie The Help from the library to watch.  Meg had seen it in English class this year and really liked it.  It was just as good as she said it would be and we all enjoyed a quiet night at the movies.

NLC Part 2

Tonight was part two of the girls NLC conference tournament.  Meg called me at 4:10 to let me know that she was called on to the court.  Luckily, I left right after school and was there before she started.  It may not have been the biggest match of the night, but it was an important one for Meg.  It was her chance to finish in 7th place in the conference tourney.  She felt that last year she did not play as well as she could and she had something to prove to herself.

The match against Goshen was intense and long.  I had told Doug and my Dad that they didn't have to come over as Meg was already up 3-0 by the time I got ahold of them.  Little did I know that I was totally wrong.  The first set along took an hour and ten minutes.  Both girls rallied hard and won some long points.  Meg was up 4-1 when Goshen came back to go up 5-4.  I was so anxious that I had to walk away.  I decided the best way to handle the rest of the set was to sit in the van with my windows up.  I felt like no matter what I said, I was just making Meg more and more nervous.  Thankfully, Nate Perek came over to watch her.  At that point she told him that she needed more water and a snack as she was getting a migraine.  He got her what she needed and stayed to watch her win 7-2 in a tiebreak.

The second set was just as intense as the first.  Meg, once again, got out to a lead, but the Goshen girl rallied once again and before I knew it Meg was down 5-3.  At this point it was obvious to me that both girls were exhausted and would struggle with a third set.  Meg hung tough and the match seemed to get to her opponent.  Meg proceeded to win the next four games finishing the second set victorious at 7-5.  It was definitely one of the most challenging matches to watch as a parent, but I was so glad that I was there to see her win.  It was a great one!

NLC Part 1

Tonight was the first night for the NLC conference tournament for girls tennis.  Meg drew a tough opponent - Plymouth's #1 singles.  She had played her Monday night and lost 6-0, 6-0.  The girl was definitely good, but unfortunately extremely unpleasant.  Tonight was no different.  Meg did play better than Monday and won some great points.  We were impressed with how well she hit the ball.  The outcome was the same, and the opponent was just as unpleasant, but Meg felt great about how she did.

Doug missed the first match as he and Cam went to Miss Cheryl's retirement party.  I was glad that they were able to go.  Cal, Meg and Cam thrived in her preschool and it was nice that they were there when she was honored.  After the dedication of the playground in Cheryl's name, Doug dropped Cam off at home.  He made it to Meg's second match of the night.  This time she was pitted against Northridge's #1 singles player.  This girl had beaten Meg before as well, but she definitely was friendlier.  Meg played fantastic.  Both Doug and I were impressed.  Meg won the first game, but ended up losing in two sets.  After catching her breath and talking to us for a little bit, she was able to process the loss and felt great about how she played tonight.  We were very proud of her.

Dinner Out

Tonight was physical night at Bethany.  Mom ran us over so that Doug could meet us there.  Everyone was friendly and all went well.  We do have some follow up questions about Marfan's to ask our doctor, but nothing that we haven't talked to him about before.  After physical night we all went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.  While we were there Doug was also able to pick up our new ball rack at Lowe's.  It has taken awhile to get everything organized, but when we finish we should have more room in the garage.  It was the first time I had gone out in quite awhile.  It was very nice to go and I enjoyed everyone's company, but I was exhausted by the end of the evening.

Back to School

Not sure that Meg and I were ready for Monday, but it came anyway.  It felt long, but I made it through.  The Prednisone hasn't helped like I thought it would and my stomach is killing me, but I am better than I was Friday.  I don't know if it was the medicine or the fact that I am not 100% healthy yet, but someone really hurt my feelings today attacking me about my cough and letting me know that they were a lot sicker than I was.  Not sure what triggered that reaction, but it did make me tear up.  Luckily, Cherie made me feel better until Doug and Meg could make me laugh about it all.